Sorry for the delay on the new chapter of TOG. It's taking a little longer to finish than I thought so here is another chapter of The Rising. Hope you enjoy. =)

The hospital wing was dark and empty and quiet when Scorpius’ eyes flickered open. His swollen busted face was getting better. Obviously destroying the tree meant he hadn’t gotten the same dose of Dryad magic that Neville had so the angels were able to help his healing along.

His body was still stiff and heavy and he his throat was dry. He looked around for some water but instead he found a man standing at the end of his bed. He was even more breathtaking to behold than Gideon. He practically glowed with awe but given his mood, Scorpius wasn’t impressed.

“Great, another angel,” he huffed and looked away.

“Sorry if it’s a bad time,” the angel said. His voice was so calm and soft that it was practically hypnotic.

“It’s been a bad time ever since you sons-a-bitches entered my life!” he growled but his anger vanished as he noticed the angels wings.

They were black.

“You’re wings...”

“Yeah, that’s what happens when you get tossed out of Heaven,” the angel shrugged casually.

Biting cold and hard fear gripped Scorpius tight and didn’t let go. His eyes went wide and he almost forgot to breath.

“That’s right...you know who I am,” he nodded, looking Scorpius in the eye.

Scorpius had never been more terrified in his entire life but somehow the name managed to drift from his mouth.

“Lucifer...”

“Yes,” he said. His perfectly crafted face was gentle and actually emanated a hint of caring. “I’ve been wanting to meet you for a long time.”

“But...you...you can’t -”

“No. I’m not actually here, Scorpius. You’re dreaming...but I am close enough to reach out. I thought you and I should talk,” he said and his words sounded honest.

“About what?” Scorpius said making no attempt to hide how frightened he was.

“The future,” the fallen angel said, “and what it’s going to become.”

“Oh, I’ve got a pretty good idea of what you’re gonna try and do to the future! World peace doesn’t seem high on your list!” he spat, moving into his defence mode again. Angry sarcasm was his only shield.

“How do you know?” he asked simply.

“Because -”

“Because I’m the devil?” he interrupted. “Your species gave me that name, Scorpius. In fact, your species is responsible for just about everything you’ve heard about me. Do you really think I set out with the goal of becoming the most fear and despised creature in all of existence?”

It was chilling just how calm and smooth his words were. There wasn’t even the slightest hint of anger in him.

“I was trying to protect my family. I was childish and arrogant and that caused me to make many mistakes. I was punished and your people have transformed me from a misguided rebel into the most evil tyrant in all of creation. I was angry about that too for a while, but not anymore. I can’t blame you for doing what’s in your nature,” Lucifer smiled and it made Scorpius shudder.

“So, get a better press agent!” he said. It was the only thing that came to mind.

“If only it were that simple,” he chuckled lightly. “You don’t have to be afraid of me, Scorpius. I’m not going to hurt you.”

“I find that hard to believe!”

“Why, because you are the Messiah? The one destined to defeat me?” Scorpius shuffled backwards in his bed but the wall blocked him from going any further. He knew the future! “Yes, I know about that Scorpius. I know that five years from now, you will deport me from this world and lock me back in my cage. Obviously I don’t want that to happen.”

A myriad of questions of how he could know about that shot through his head but none brought any answers.

“Yeah, well, this is Earth. People rarely get what they want.”

“It doesn’t have to be that way,” he said, “I’m not what you think I am. But I can understand why you’d think that.”

The way he looked at Scorpius, it was like a proud father looking at his son. This was not what he had expected.

“Oh, so ruler of Hell is just misunderstood, is that it?” he said with raised eyebrows.

Lucifer closed his eyes and looked away, shaking his head at Scorpius’s attitude.

“Did you ever wonder why my father never killed me? Why he didn’t stop me before I made my move? He knows everything. He knows what’s going to happen long before it does so he could have stopped before I ever started to gain followers. But he didn’t...why? Why did he go through all the trouble of creating my prison when he could have just blinked me out of existence? Why did he create an angel that would eventually turn against him in the first place?” Lucifer asked again looking Scorpius in the eye. “It’s because he wanted this. He wanted the devil. He wanted an adversary, someone for people to hate and fear. Just like he wanted a human hero to be the one that defeated me...don’t you understand, Scorpius? You and I are nothing more than puppets in his sick little game.”

Scorpius tried not to listen, he tried to block his words out but they were too strong and they caused questions to unfold in his mind. Were they all just acting their parts in God’s stage play? Did free will even exist?

“I’m tired, Scorpius. I’m tired of being the monster, I’m tired of following his plan...but he’s gone now, and we have an opportunity,” Lucifer said while smiling.

“To do what?”

“Make our own destiny...” the angel answered. “You and I are pawns in an old man’s twisted chess game. Let’s walk off the board.”

“Meaning?” Scorpius had to ask.

“No apocalypse, no war, no devil and no need for a messiah. Let’s not be what he wants us to be. Let’s make our own future.”

“And I’m supposed to just trust that you’ve turned over a new leaf?” Scorpius asked apprehensively.

“Of course not. I’m not expecting you to trust me. I’ve done nothing to prove myself to you...but give me the chance and I will,” the devil was actually pleading with him. “My heart breaks for you, Scorpius...the weight on your shoulders; it’s more than anyone should ever have to bear. He pushed this on you. He took away any chance of you ever having a normal life and what does he give you in return? Nothing but pain, suffering and loneliness. But you don’t have to bear it. You can get rid of it.”

“This coming from the guy that hates the human race!” Scorpius hissed in defiance.

Again, Lucifer looked away and closed his eyes. He sighed and took a breath before looking at Scorpius again.

“It’s true...I hated your kind. But that was a long time ago. I was wrong...it wasn’t your fault. You didn’t make my father love you. You aren’t to blame...he is. We can be better than him.”

This time Scorpius couldn’t find a witty retort or a defiant comment. He couldn’t deny that it sounded good. This destiny, his role in the future, he never wanted it. What if he could actually get rid of it? What if he could go back to being just a normal kid?

Fathers...it was all about fathers. Draco’s lack of love for him and made Scorpius what he was and Lucifer felt the same way. It was scar just how much they had in common. But as sweet as the promise sounded, he just couldn’t believe that it was possible.

“It’s not something to be taken lightly. I’ll give you some time to think it through,” Lucifer said turning and walking towards the door of the hospital wing. “But know something, Scorpius...I will escape my cage, I will come to Earth...the only question is; what happens then?”

He walked out of the wing and a heartbeat later, Scorpius’ eyes shot open. He was awake now. The hospital wing was still empty but sunlight was flooding through the windows. He had no idea how long he’d been there but the pain in his face returned with a vengeance.

Lucifer’s words were still floating around in his head. It was so tempting.

-

“What’s this?” Hugo asked as he received the old tome from Gideon.

He had introduced himself a few moments earlier. Hugo was still glum from what had happened to Scorpius. Their plan hadn’t exactly gone the way they wanted it to and he was blaming himself. He should have been there to help him.

Unfortunately, he was the only one feeling that way. Harry, Ron and the other aurors just seemed happy to have angels on their side again while all the girls in the room were unable to take their eyes away from Gideons beauty.

Even Hermione and Dom were practically drooling over him. Ron didn’t seem too happy about it.

Cassandra was standing next to him quietly while the Weasleys and Potters were gathered around the Gryffindor common room.

“We’ve discussed it and decided that you may need a little more protection than we’ve been able to give. This is a book of Enochian spells. Everything in there doesn’t require divine power to cast however, some of them need specific ingredients...most require human blood,” he explained.

That last part caused Hugo to look at him with raised eyebrows.

“What? I didn’t invent them,” Gideon said holding up his hands in innocence. His wings fluttered slightly which caused Rose to gasp in awe. She looked ready to jump on him and never let go.

“How long till Scorpius is better?” Hugo said ignoring his smitten sister.

“We’ve accelerated his healing as much as we can. We can’t push it any further or it could become dangerous,” Cassandra said.

“Don’t worry, he’ll be back on his feet in no time,” Gideon smiled.

“Sooner than you think,” a croaky voice said.

They all turned to see Scorpius, still bruised and swollen, standing by the portal entrance.

“Scorpius!” Dominique gasped.

“You need to rest,” Cassandra said, instantly appearing at his side in case he needed help.

“I’m not gonna be resting any time soon,” he said and walked into the common room. “I just had a little chat with your brother...”

Both angels looked at him in confusion.

“You know...the fallen one?”

Their confusion turned to shock. “Lucifer?! He spoke to you?!” Gideon gasped.

The girls actually managed to pull their gaze away from Gideon and looked at Scorpius with horror and amazement.

“Yeah. You might have mentioned that he can jump inside my head when I’m asleep!” Scorpius growled.

“He’s closer than we thought,” Gideon said to Cassandra with worry in his voice. “What did he say to you?”

“He dangled a very tempting offer in my face...don’t worry, I’m not gonna take it,” he said. “He’s got a way with words though.”

“What did he offer?” Cassandra asked.

“To throw away the script and write a new story,” Scorpius said simply.

“What do you mean?”

“He promised to skip the whole Armageddon thing if I skip the whole Messiah thing. He wants to re-write destiny, change everything...And I thought I had daddy issues...”

“You can’t trust a word that he says, Scorpius!” Cassandra stressed. “He twists the truth. He can manipulate anyone!”

“I don’t. I’m not stupid. Angel or not, if a deal sounds too good to be true, it is! Can’t say it wasn’t tempting though,” he admitted while rubbing the side of his head. His cheek felt like it was the size of a bludger. “But we got a serious problem...he knows who I am and he knows how the future turns out.”

“The demons that came back...they must have found a way to contact him. They’ve told him everything about the future...I have to return to Heaven and report this to Michael,” Gideon said before vanishing into blinding white light.

The women seemed a little upset that he had gone.

“What do we do about this?” Scorpius asked Cassandra.

“We carry on...that’s if you are willing?”

“Given everything that’s happened to me, I think I was well within my rights to have a moment of absolute weakness,” he yelled which caused his jaw to hurt. “Let’s just say that the Morning Star’s visit sobered me up. He’s real...and he scares me...we can’t let him come to Earth!”

“Scorpius -”

“Don’t give me any of that ‘it’s destiny’ crap! If I am the one that brings him through, then that’s good!”

“How is that good?” Hugo blurted.

“Because, if it even looks for one second like I’m gonna pop Lucifer’s box, you guys are gonna kill me!”

“What?!” several people including Cassandra shrieked.

“Look, the way I see it, we’ve got two options. One, we hunt down the demons that came back. Killing them has gotta screw up things for Lucifer and maybe give us some information about their side of things. Or two...you waste me before I have a chance to open the gates of Hell. Now, despite all this crap, I do actually like living so I say option two is last resort type thing. But we have to stop these demons or they may set something up that I might fall into.”

“You’re right,” Cassandra nodded.

Scorpius looked at her extremely puzzled. Suddenly she wasn’t trying to stop him hunting demons?

“I’ve been told that I should be more...flexible to your ideas. I’ll support whatever you decide to do,” the angel said a little awkwardly.

“Okay...that’s good...thank you,” Scorpius said, still sounding a bit surprised. As he spoke, the Gryffindor portal swung open. “So are we all agreed? We take Satan’s goons out before they can do any damage and whatever we run into along the way, we’ll deal with it.”

“Harry?” a voice said.

The all turned to see who had spoken. Instantly the jaws of everyone, except Cassandra, dropped so low that they almost hit the floor. Harry was the worst. He looked like he might shatter into a thousand pieces if someone touched him.

The man standing there was almost a spitting image of him when he was still in his twenties except without the scar. Tall, thin, messy black hair, glasses and brown eyes.

“Is that you?” he asked in amazement.

“Dad?” Harry gasped.

If they weren’t shocked before, they sure as hell were now.

They were looking at a man that died over forty years ago protecting his son from Voldemort.